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In Ana Menendez’s second book of short stories, everything flies: the characters, in parachutes and out of airplanes; time, in jolting movements back and forth; and the quiet, cutting realism that has defined her previous works.

It’s a daring departure for the Cuban-American author, whose explorations of political strife, identity and exile in the novels “Loving Che” and “The Last War” and the acclaimed short story collection, “In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd,” have been marked by a compelling, minimalist style.

In “Adios, Happy Homeland!” Menendez instead takes a page from Argentine master Jorge Luis Borges, inventing a cast of mostly fictional Cuban poets whose works are anthologized by an equally fictional Irish library director.

There are 24 stories in all, which switch quickly across storytelling formats. The result is a thought-provoking, humorous and sometimes dizzying collection of tales.

The character who anthologizes these works, Herberto Quain, is a connoisseur of Cuban poetry who hails from 19th-century Ireland and journeys to the New World after becoming captivated by a collection of the island’s finest verses. Landing in Havana, he fudges his credentials and lands a job at the National Library, overseeing a new section titled, “Poetry of the Americas.”

Menendez’s inspiration for Quain, we can safely presume, lies in a short story by Borges. Titled “A Survey of the Works of Herbert Quain,” it is a review of a fictional author’s fictional works, which are often misunderstood.

The effect of this labyrinth of tales is disjointing and sometimes dissatisfying, as though Menendez has intentionally squandered several great, potential stories. Yet, this is what makes “Adios, Happy Homeland!” a brilliant and inventive work: fractured, layered storytelling conveys the unsettling experience and shifting sense of identity that exile brings.